Helldivers 1:RX-1 Rail Gun

“

High powered weapon effective vs. armored enemies, fires super charged armor piercing ammunition.

— Armory Description

Unlock Requirement

The RX-1 Rail Gun unlocks at rank 14 (Major).

Upgrades

Upgrade		Requirements	Cost	Effect
	Unstoppable Rounds		2	Rounds will continue through all enemies except those with heavy armor.
	Stun Rounds	Unstoppable Rounds	2	Causes damaging bullets to stun the target for a short time.

Unstoppable Rounds

• Replaces standard ammunition with specially designed rounds capable of penetrating multiple targets with ease. Note that Unstoppable Rounds still cannot punch through armored enemies that normal ammunition cannot damage. This special ammo does not deal any extra damage.

Stun Rounds

• Supercharges each round with a high yield electrical charge that discharges on impact and stuns the target. The stun bullet is self-charging and capable of delivering its payload to multiple targets as well. Completely stuns and immobilizes enemies on direct hits, slowing enemies dramatically on off-center shots.

Weapon Stats

• Helldivers start missions with 4 magazines and can carry up to a maximum of 8. Each magazine contains 5 slugs. The final round in the magazine will play the 'low ammunition' warning sound upon being fired.

• The RX-1 takes 2.5 seconds to reload when empty and 2.25 seconds with ammunition remaining in the magazine. Due to its unique firing mechanism and construction compared to traditional firearms, the RX-1 does not carry over a round between reloads and will always have 5 rounds in its magazine upon reloading.

RX-1 Rail Gun Detailed Analysis
Weapon Info			Additional Notes
Unlock Rank	Rank 14
Weapon Type	Primary
Weapon Category	Precision
Fire Mode	Semi-auto
Damage
	Base	Upgraded	Additional Notes
Damage	300	300
Center Mass Damage	499	499
Status Effect	None	Stun*	* Requires Stun Rounds upgrade, stuns and immobilizes on direct hit, otherwise slows by 90%
Effect Duration	0 s	3 s*	* Requires Stun Rounds upgrade, stuns and immobilizes on direct hit, otherwise slows by 90%
AP Ammo Armor Reduction	-15	-15
Statistics
	Base	Upgraded	Additional Notes
Cyclic Rate of Fire (RPM)	66	66
Capacity	5	5
Starting Mags	4	4
Max Mags	8	8
Empty Reload Speed	2.5 s	2.5 s
Tactical Reload Speed	2.25 s	2.25 s	Does not keep a round in the chamber.
Spread	0°	0°	Fixed firing pattern
Max Range	50 m	50 m
Bullet Spread Simulation	todo

Gameplay Tips

• The RX-1 has the lowest total ammo of any primary weapon at 45 rounds, but deals an incredible 499 damage while also ignoring 15 points of enemy armor protection, toting more damage per shot than any other primary weapon in the game. This makes it possible to damage some enemies that would shrug off most small arms fire, such as Cyborg Warlords, and easily deal lethal damage through the protection of mid-to-lower tier enemies.

• While viciously powerful and capable of dealing immense amounts of damage to crowds, the RX-1 lacks the ammo reserves to play an offensive role for long and fires extremely slowly compared to every other primary weapon. Instead, it is more suited to a fire support and crowd control role thanks to its ability to freeze crowds in place with its unstoppable stun rounds, allowing yourself or teammates to more easily take out heavy units, cut down crowds, or line up stratagems with long call-down times. The RX-1 also performs well as a sniper rifle, although it is even more limited ammo-wise than the Camper or Constitution and relies heavily on lined up targets to remain somewhat efficient. Kiting enemies into groups is highly recommended to get the most mileage out of the RX-1's tiny reserve ammo pool and small magazine size.

• The small ammo pool of the RX-1 can be easily compensated for by bringing either Stratagem Priority or a Resupply Pack. Extensive use of sidearms and unlimited-use offensive stratagems can also solve this issue if sacrificing a stratagem slot for the Resupply Pack is not an acceptable solution.

• The RX-1 will stun all non-shielded enemies with direct hits (with exception of the Cyborg IFV), regardless of whether the slug can actually damage its intended target. This turns the RX-1 into a highly valuable tool for both solo and team play, letting its user stun enemies near objectives that are too close to safely kill with heavy weapons, or save yourself or teammates from dangerous enemies by buying time to retreat or eliminate said threats.

• While the Unstoppable Rounds upgrade greatly increases both ammo economy and damage/stun output, this advantage comes at the cost of potentially hitting other Helldivers or objectives if they are near or behind your targets; pay special attention to what's between and behind your target. Note that this upgrade does not make it possible to penetrate Illuminate shields, making the RX-1 an extremely poor choice in dealing with most Illuminate units unless one wishes to use it to stun Illusionists and Council Members. Consider pairing it with stratagems and heavy weapons to disable shields to save what little ammo the RX-1 has.

Notes

• The description of the Stun Rounds upgrade is potentially a nod to the Leyden Ball, a fictional bullet featured in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It is described as a bead of glass with a steel jacket and lead bead inside that acts as a miniature but complete Leyden Jar (a type of primitive battery). Upon impact it would shatter, discharging its high-voltage payload and incapacitating or killing the target, not unlike the effect of Stun Rounds.
• The RX-1 lacks sights of any kind, making it impossible to use effectively past point blank range in real life, unless one was using a Heads Up Display system or similar.